If I Only Had A Brain
by Ayla C. Raspus
Summary: Ryancentric. Everybody loves the Wizard of OZ, right? Well..not everybody loves dorothy, but one Scarecrow does. Too bad he doesn't have a brain to figure it out yet. RyanOC, Choy


_**A/N Hola everybody! Well, i'm pleased and excited to say that this is my very first HSM fic. It's a little exciting and a little scary, but more so of the former. First of all i would like to say, I'm a HUGE Ryan fan...i heart him so very much and the idea came for this story during my schools musical, in which we performed the Wizard of Oz. So me and my bestest friend in the whole wide world, Miss Oasis Blackmore, came up with the idea, kinda. Lol However, i would like to dedicate this story to her, whom without i probably wouldn't have had the **courage**(Heh, wizard of oz pun) to post this here on Fanfic. So Oasis, the implied Choy is for you..obviously. So, now that i'm done rambling, enjoy "If I Only Had A Brain." **_

**_Disclaimer: I only own whats mine, the plot and my character. I don't own the Wizard of Oz or HSM _**

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Chapter One:

"Dude if I have to wear a wig, I'm going to scream…" Chad Danforth mumbled as he flipped through the leather bound script in his hands. Troy was laughing to himself at the thought. Ryan looked up as well, chuckling lightly between looking at his own script.

"But its kinda going to be fun, don't you think so? I wonder who else got main roles." Ryan almost whispered, recalling auditions secretly. Sharpay, who had been eavesdropping, pushed her way into the center of the conversation. She smiled happily and tapped on the upright piano for attention.

"I personally and gladly accept the role of Dorothy if Ms. Darbus needs me; which she will," She smiled at their drama teacher and watched curiously as the cast quieted down.

As Ms. Darbus neared the end of her list, there were only several people who didn't have an assigned part. Sharpay stood up happily as Gabriella took her scrip for Auntie Em. She happily took a glance toward her brother, who nodded in encouragement. As she was taking a step forward, the side stage door flew open.

The crowd glanced towards the sound and stared at the girl who just entered. She looked around, cheeks turning red in embarrassment for being late. Ms. Darbus cleared her throat and crossed her arms impatiently. The girl, clad in some East High athletic wear and some sneakers, walked forward towards center stage were Sharpay stood angrily.

"I'm so sorry, Ms Darbus. I had an audition for a dance team." She breathed quietly, as Ms. Darbus nodded and help up a script to silence her.

"I will not tolerate tardiness, Ms. Ward. Let this be a lesson for all of my leads. If any one is tardy, I will replace you and you will be demoted to stage crew. This is an extremely difficult show to put on, but I'm sure all of us are ready to learn. Come get your script Miss Ward…today we're running the scarecrow scene. So you and Ryan, please run your lines." Ms. Darbus finished, handing the girl her script.

"We will meet back here, today after school. Randi and Ryan, your free period will be maintained in here, running lines. Miss Evans, here is your script for Glinda the Witch of the North. The rest of you will be extras in Munchkin land and Oz. Ryan will you please listen to the tape I gave you with the Jitterbug on it? I want some sort of a dance, by the end of free period as well. Perhaps Miss Ward can help you?" As Ms. Darbus went on, Ryan stole a glance at Randi Ward, who was flipping through her script curiously.

She sighed and turned to sit at the piano, tuning out the rest of her drama teachers speech. Ryan stepped forward put a hand on his sister's shoulder, watching her pout in anger.

"I can't believe this, Ryan. Ms. Darbus has to be out of her mind; to think that an amateur like her got _my_ part. You have to make her quit, get me that part!" Sharpay finished, storming with everybody else out of the auditorium. Ryan stood, center stage, eyeing the empty area quietly as he and his fellow classmate avoided speaking to each other.

"I'll see you free period," Randi whispered getting up and pulling her script to her chest.

Ryan watched curiously as she left before following his sister out the other doors of the auditorium and down the halls of East High. They walked in silence, Sharpay angry at every possible living object and Ryan fearing for his life. She swung Ms. Darbus' class room door open and walked inside startling the drama teacher as she was reading her copy of the script.

"May I help you Miss Evans," She asked calmly, looking Ryan mostly for an answer. Ryan held up his hands in defense and back away from his sister as she slammed her hands on a desk.

"Ms. Darbus, how could you do this to me? Have I not worked hard enough for you? You know I deserve this role, not that…that….freshman." Sharpay complained, only causing a slight raise in the eyebrows from the teacher. Ms. Darbus removed her glasses and stood from her seat at the front of the room. She cleared her throat and stepped towards the twins.

"Miss Evans, I chose Miss Ward because she has potential. For the past four years, I've seen her dance and perform to the best of her abilities. It was now, in her _senior_ year, that I felt it was a right choice to make and convince her to be apart of this springs musical. Besides, Glinda was your choice anyway, wasn't it?" Sharpay stomped her foot and stormed out of the room leaving Ryan behind, who only looked after her as she left.

"Mr. Evans, don't do anything you'll regret. Miss Ward is a very good person," Ms. Darbus left her classroom on that thought, leaving Ryan to stand on his own in the empty room. He cleared his throat and turned to leave.

"Ryan! Listen very carefully to me, you _will _get that part for me. Or so help me…" Sharpay threatened, not caring to finish her thought as the pair walked quietly towards their next class.

Ryan sat in silence, hardly paying any attention to what was going on in the front of the class room. He was tapping his pencil lightly against the paper that wasn't being used to take notes. He sighed and leaned back, fixing the sleeves of his jacket loosely. Kelsey glanced over and frowned, noticing the troubled look on his face as the bell rang.

"Hey," She greeted, catching up with him in the hall as he made his way to lunch. He nodded in response and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Okay, what's Sharpay got you doing now?" She asked, fixing her shoulder bag as the neared the already full cafeteria.

"What..?" He answered, looking at her with a smile. "I'm just busy with this musical already. Sharpay has nothing to do with it!" He laughed, happily jumping down the steps to approach an almost full table.

"Hey! Are you excited for free period, spending all your time in an empty auditorium," Gabriella greeted, feeling exhausted for her friend. Ryan rolled his eyes and sat down, eyeing everybody else at the table with curious eyes.

"Super excited, this musical is going to be so much fun!" He answered sarcastically, twirling his hat around his finger lazily.

"Why did Ms. Darbus decide to do this musical? I loved the movie but c'mon, no one can perform like Judy Garland." Kelsey ranted, irritated as she looked over the score, making appropriate corrections.

"Who knows? We don't know what the new girl's potential is…" Chad offered, happily taking the hamburger that his best friend couldn't finish and consuming the rest of it.

"Apparently, she's been going to school here for a while already. Not so new…" Taylor nodded, looking to Gabriella who agreed. The table resumed their silence as they thought, thoughts of the impending musical running almost unhappily through their mind.

"Well…I'm off to see the wizard…." Ryan sighed, grabbing his script as the bell rang to start free period. He walked quietly towards the auditorium, unconsciously thumbing through his script till he reached his first scene as the Scarecrow. He entered the familiar stage with a sigh, realizing the end of his senior year was approaching fast.

"It's going to be different for you isn't it?" He heard a voice and spun around slowly finding Randi Ward leaning against the farthest wall. She had changed out of her gym clothes into a pair of jeans and a wildcats t-shirt.

"Oh, you know. I'll miss the stage, but I'm kind glad I'm going to graduate," He answered, looking around the stage nostalgically.

"I wasn't talking about East. I meant, your not working with your sister this time…" She scoffed, walking to meet him in the middle of the stage. As she went to stand next to Ryan, he realized that perhaps maybe the only reason he was attempting to make her quit was because he had never really worked with any one else but Sharpay.

"Maybe…but you have to try new things right?" He replied crossing his arms and stepping away from her slightly.

"I just figured you'd be upset that I'm not your sister…" She shrugged, loosing her courage and reversing to mumbling again.

"Please…although no one can replace Sharpay. I'm sure you'll be fine. You don't get nervous easily in front of large crowds do you?" He quipped, taking into consideration what his sister asked of him. He cursed silently as Randi's head snapped up and she glanced around the empty seating.

"Well…I would assume that not a lot of people come to these things," She whispered, running a hand through her wavy dark brown hair.

"Are you kidding? This is the Wizard of Oz! This has been well known for ages. A lot of people are going to want to come see this," Ryan was laughing, waving a hand in front of the arena to emulate the idea that there would be a full house. Randi took a step away from the edge of the stage.

"I…I guess I didn't think about it," She stuttered, pulling her arms close to her body to protect herself from the imaginary crowd.

"And you'll be the center of it all!! You're reprising a role that Judy Garland herself made so famous. Doesn't that scare you at least a little bit? People are going to be judging you so harshly by that first song. If you don't live up that expectation, I'm afraid the rest of the show will go south," He nodded, turning to find her sitting on the floor in a small ball. He smiled triumphantly, finally finding an insecurity he could work with.

"You seem so sure that I'm going to fail," she told him finally, lifting her head from where it had been resting on her knees. Ryan laughed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"That's not what I'm saying at all! I'm just letting you know what type of show we're dealing with here. You're not that only one who has to be worried. Remember? I'm scarecrow," He smiled, walking over to her and extending a hand. She took his hesitantly and he helped her to her feet, linking his arm with hers. "To Oz..?" He smiled, watching as she rolled her eyes. "And of course, everybody loves a good jazz square."

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_**Post Script: so....yeah.. i had to put a jazz square reference in there...cause Oasis and I laughed about it all musical...lol so..Review. More to come if you do. **_


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